California, Vegas & NYC - Dec 2008 - DAY 4

[kirst_al UK]

Day minus 1 & 0

Day 1 - Heathrow & Anaheim

Day 2 - Disneyland

Day 3 - Last day at Disney

Me - Kirsty (23) - planned, booked and organised the whole trip; itinerary boffin that loves America.

T'other half - Alex (23) - cause of my Disney addiction, planner of our Disney holidays, pretty much just left this one to me and just went wherever I told him to go... and oh yes... how can i forget - paid for the majority

Day 4 - UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

December 17, 2008

Up far to EARLY and out the door about 7am AGAIN – yawn yawn – and guess what... it was RAINING AGAIN ! Very tired but looking forward to checking our Hollywood and the Universal area.

We took the number 43 bus, which stops right opposite the Disneyland entrance, to the Fullerton Transportation Centre. It only takes about 20/25 minutes at the cost of then $1.25. We arrived with plenty of time to spare for our Metrolink train (route orange county line) for I think around $6pp to LA Union Station. 45 minutes it took us – were going to go with Amtrak but I wasn’t 100% sure if you could take luggage on board. It talked about having to get there 30 minutes before departure to check in your luggage which I really couldn’t be bothered to do if there was a train (the metrolink) we could catch that was in fact cheaper, went to the same place and we could take our luggage on board with us. Was an ok trip really – passed along side the LA river which (considering how much rain we had seen in the last two days was as dry then as it was in the movie Grease and the Pussycat Dolls video – that was really cool to see. Arrived at LA Union Station and took the red line up to our hotel at Universal City. Another good thing using the Metrolink was in fact you can use your ticket to board an onward subway train which saved us there too. Overall it was an ok trip – it’s not ideal with luggage but for the price its an absolute steal and is really straight forward – you’re sat down for most of the journey too with lifts and escalators to take you to where you need to be in relation to catching the subway. We arrived at Universal City subway stop I think around 9am – our first picture in Hollywood was a view from our room at 9.34 so I’m pretty sure we arrived around 8.45 – 9am.

Check in was again painless this time at the Hilton Universal City – was sooooo pleased - what with the trek over town, the rain along the way and then to finish off the insane hill we’d just had to climb – that they allowed us to check in there and then. The only thing I was really not happy about looking back was not tipping the person who served us what they deserved. We were literally dripping wet, looked ridiculous, considering it wasn’t that warm outside we were actually swelting and we just wanted to get upstairs and changed.

Heres my Trip Advisor review of the hotel –

As the title says - 'Very nice hotel and an ideal base away from hustle & bustle of Hollywood'. 10/15 minute walk to the red line subway station with the Hollywood and Highland Centre (metres from the walk of fame, graumans etc) being just one stop away. Hill can be a bit of a pain and extremely tiring especially with luggage but there is a complimentary shuttle that takes you from the bottom of the hill up to the hotels (hilton + sheraton) and onwards to Universal Studios which is worth waiting for but its not 24 hours - it stopped around 5-6pm when we were there.

Hotel set in nice grounds with fountains and nice greenary. Bit of a pain if you're not hiring a car to get to the hotel either from Universal or the top of the hill (unless we just went the long way around all the time). You enter the site of the hotel at what i would've called the front (off the main road) however you have to walk all the way around to the back of the hotel to actually get in. I'm not sure if there was another entrance or a cut through but we couldn't find one.

Arrived at 9am and explained i understood if we were a little early to check in but could we leave our bags because we wanted to go to Universal. The very helpful lady on the front desk started looking on the computer - she said they had some rooms available. I decided to try my luck with the 'upgrade' Q... i managed to get us what i think was an executive corner room (1564) for an extra $20p/n which I was more than happy with paying. Our rate had already dropped about $50 p/n from when i originally booked so was still in theory in pocket. The lady at the front desk showed us to the lift and also gave us some maps and things to look at with regards to nearby places of interest.

We entered the room (after a little bit of difficulty with the key!) and WOW ! The room was amazing. So spacious, clean, tidy, modern - everything you want in a hotel room. Sofa, television, wine (obviously not free!), massive bed, massive wardrobe and a desk to work on if necassary.



The bathroom was humongous with plenty of amenties and towels.



Then came the drawing of the curtains - WOW WOW WOW ! What a view ! We overlooked Universal. Seeing that and the hills in the background made it a $40 very well spent !


Ok granted this isn't the best photo but more will be posted in Day 5

Didn't get room service or anything however it did seem reasonably priced to be honest - well it would've been less the gratuity, delivery charge and another charge they wanted to add on. Second evening there we got back to the hotel and there was a nice basket of fruit, with bottles of water and chocolate biscuit type things. Didn't know if they were free or you had to pay so partner only had one of the chocolate bar and a bottle of water. I see now on my credit card though that there's $4 having been charged to it care of the Hilton but because we paid up for the room on leaving i'm guessing it probably for what he ate. Maybe worth asking if its free or not should you receive one before you dive into it !?

For some reason the hallways were extremely hot and i mean hot - they were sweltering however was pleasantly surprised that whatever was happening with the heating out there wasn't effecting the heating in the room. Was very easy to control - never got too hot nor too cold.

Overall i'm very glad I picked the Hilton up at Universal City and should we ever head back to LA and the North Hollywood area I will most probably stay here again - its in a quiet area ideal for Universal Studios, its not far away from the subway as previously explained and the freeway that takes you down to the centre of Hollywood should you want to explore using a car. We went down to the Hollywood/Highland area and it was madness - i honestly don't think i'd have been able to stay directly on Hollywood Boulevard. It was very busy and as i have previously said the Hilton took you away from the hustle and bustle into a world of your own in effect but meant you were still within one subway stop should you want to check out graumans etc.

Once we’d gotten changed and freshened up we headed over (again in the rain! ) to exchange our buy one day get one free voucher this time care of Universal direct.





We headed straight to first store that was open and asked for a couple of plastic bags for our feet along with of course another poncho – this time a bright yellow one – yes I looked even more of a picture than a couple of days before !

Once we were all prepared and looking a sod it was time for the Backlot Tour. That was undercover luckily so kept us out of the rain for nearing an hour or so. Was fab and loved every minute to it – the best ‘ride’ by a mile in there and not a patch on the one in Disney Hollywood Studios. They were filming an episode of the Ghost Whisperer on the set of Desperate Housewives so unfortunately didn’t get to go down Wisteria Lane but Alex sure kept his eyes peeled for a glance of Jennifer Love-Hewitt.











After the Backlot we headed over for our first ride on the Simpsons. The last time we were in Universal Orlando Back to the Future had just closed and was being transformed to Krustyland. Loved it – was really good. We stopped to admire the amazing view of Warner Bros, the Hollywood Hills, part of the backlot and one amazing golf course down in the valley of the hills. Its probably the best view I have ever seen !









Made our way down to the bottom level of the Studios and rode The Mummy and Backdraft which dried us off a little.







Continued below...

[kirst_al UK]

After Alex got nowhere trying to persuade me to ride Jurassic Park as 'we were already wet' we decided to go for something to eat at the café next to Jurassic park.



Considering there weren’t many people in the park the restaurant was packed and we ended up sitting outside in the pouring rain, under an umberella, with puddles all around us eating our food – now that was a sight !

Made our way back up to the first level and went to watch the Terminator – as much as it scare me (the loud noises and the unexpected-ness) I loved it. Due to the weather they had moved the Animal Planet show indoors to the stage of Terminator so we waited around to watch that. It wasn’t nearly as long as the proper show would be and they didn’t involve as many animals as they do in their own area but it was funny and it again allowed us to dry off a little more.

We then headed around to the last showing of the day of Waterworld. Due to the weather the other shows of the days had been called off – the 3pm one that we went to see was only ok’d about 10 minutes before showtime – it was really touch and go. The arena wasn’t indoor unfortunately and although the pictures don’t look like it we seemed to be getting wetter and wetter as the show went on so didn’t enjoy it or take as many picture as we would’ve liked but it was ok.





House of Horrors was next and I swear I will never EVER EVER do it again EVER !



I hate stuff like that as it is but Alex persuaded me to go on it. It was awful and I hated every single bit of it ! As i’ve said previously I hate the unexpected – that is my downfall… I need to know whats coming aslong as I know I’m fine but jump out at me looking like Chuckie and I freak out completely ! We were the only ones on the walk through until I saw a couple a little further ahead – ‘Alex come on we will catch up to them and we will know when to jump’ ! It ended up being the two young lads in front, then me holding on to this random man in front and Alex behind…. I just wanted to get out of there ! The guy I was holding on to actually turned around and said its you that’s scaring me more than the ride – I’m sure you get my jist now….. seriously it was the worse experience of my life so far !

Headed out of the Studios into Citywalk. They too have fake snow every now and then and was really cool. We ate at the Hard Rock Café – we lurrrve the Hard Rock as you will probably know come the end of this whole TR.

We got back to the hotel for about 7ish and got dry, warm and freshened up and watched TV in bed. Soon enough we were both fast asleep.
Wasn’t the weather I imagined to be honest but hey ho – we had a good time in pretty much an empty park. As I said previously due to the weather and due to what we had been able to get done today (pretty much everything at least once) we decided to swap the following day to our touristy day and the ˝ day after that just checking out anything we wanted to check out again at Universal the morning before we flew out to Vegas. The weather was looking ok for the following day and we didn’t want it to be raining whilst we were on an open top bus – I think that would’ve just finished us off ! Not had the best weather so far had we ?!


I don’t have many pictures between waterworld and it getting dark but I’m pretty sure we hung around the park for a while rather than going back to the hotel. We walked around the park thinking it shut at 6pm and then got told when we got to the Simpsons that the park was infact shut – on the internet before we went it definitely said 6pm closing time but it shut at 5pm. Didn’t really worry us as we were shattered and it had already been along day having gotten up about 6am that morning. We headed back to the entrance of the park taking some pictures on the way as due to the weather we’d decided to change our plans slightly and therefore that would be the only time of which we would see the park in the dark.






Me & my poncho







Headed out of the Studios into Citywalk.





They too have fake snow every now and then and was really cool. We ate at the Hard Rock Café – we lurrrve the Hard Rock as you will probably have guessed come the end of this whole TR - thats all i will say .



We got back to the hotel for about 7ish and got dry, warm and freshened up and watched TV in bed. Soon enough we were both fast asleep.


Crossing bridge from Universal Studios to the hotel


In the lift on the way back - notice the (well one of about 4 that day) poncho is still on board

Wasn’t the weather I imagined to be honest but hey ho – we had a good time in pretty much an empty park. As I said previously due to the weather and due to what we had been able to get done today (pretty much everything at least once) we decided to swap the following day to our touristy day and the ˝ day after that just checking out anything we wanted to check out again at Universal the morning before we flew out to Vegas. The weather was looking ok for the following day and we didn’t want it to be raining whilst we were on an open top bus – I think that would’ve just finished us off ! Not had the best weather so far had we ?!

Day 5 - Hollywood, Beverley Hills & a Premiere for good measure !

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[Guest]

Universal looks so good!